The present invention relates to a master cylinder for a hydraulic system such as a brake system or a clutch system. Such a master cylinder usually includes a set of inlet ports connected to a fluid supply reservoir and a set of outlet ports connected to a slave cylinder. The master cylinders for brake and clutch usually are pedal-actuated which means that these cylinders are located in the front on that side of the engine of the car where the driver is placed.
Regarding the limited space under the hood of a vehicle, it is evident that, for space-saving reasons, there is only one optimum way to arrange inlet ports and outlet ports with respect to each other since they have to be connected to a voluminous reservoir and fluid lines, respectively. In general, in right-hand driven cars the master cylinders are constructed just in specular symmetry to the master cylinders for left-hand driven cars. Therefore, it is necessary to cast two different types of master cylinders for each car model that is manufactured both as a left-hand drive and as a right-hand drive version which causes high costs. Especially for car models running in small numbers, it is desirable to have one master cylinder type fitting both car versions.
A master cylinder according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,820 achieves this result by arranging two inlet ports and two outlet ports in a line in an alternating order. Depending on the location of the fluid supply reservoir, two tubes of variable shape are attached to the inlet ports by means of a flange portion. Thus, the ports of the tubes can point to any desired direction. Such an assembly makes it possible to use the same cast of a master cylinder housing for different arrangements. A disadvantage, however, is a great assembling expenditure due to a number of additional parts used to achieve multiple port locations.